


Come Under the Covers

by PhoenixInTheAsh



Series: Jason Todd Birthday Week 2018 [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood: Lost Days, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Angst, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason needs therapy, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 10:14:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15661167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixInTheAsh/pseuds/PhoenixInTheAsh
Summary: For dailyjasontodd's Birthday Week Prompts.Day Three: Memories and One ColourJason reflects on his past and finds a common thread in his worst experiences.





	Come Under the Covers

    Green has colored everything since the Pit. His eyes were blue once, he thought, but the green took over and turned them a deep cyan. Moments of rage and panic attacks frequently turned his vision green. Talia said that that particular side effect would fade eventually. Even his memories from before have a faint green tinge, as if the Pit threw a green veil over all of them. But even before the Pit, his worst memories always involved the color. His biological father’s eyes, Catherine’s medication, Sheila’s green pants,  _ his _ hair ━

    He tried to fight it, oh he tried. He made everything he could red to try to wash out all of the green. He covered himself with it, carried it, wore a helmet that tinted his vision red. His new moniker had “red” in the name, intended to piss off his mentor to remind him of his biggest failure. (Luckily, Jason had been too young when that name was used by  _ him _ , and was able to make it his own without causing flashbacks every time he heard it.) He did everything he could to hide from the green that haunted him, but it was never enough. It always came back, accompanied by a horror show of every terrible thing that had happened to him.

    His first memory of  _ after _ was green. It was everywhere, filling his vision, his nose, his mouth when he tried to scream. The pain came second, as if every cell in his body was being pulled apart and rearranged, stretched in unnatural ways.

    Fifteen years of memories flooded him all at once, but only a few filtered through the chaos. His mom, with a smile on her face and a gentle hand on his face. Tires. Batman. His adopted family. A red, yellow, and green uniform. A crowbar. An explosion.

_ Laughter, so much laughter, drowning out every other noise in his ears _ ━

    A hand grabs him, pulling him from the glowing green water, and Jason wakes up with a gasp to his empty apartment.

    After a few calming breaths to slow his racing heart, he drags himself out of bed knowing that sleep has deserted him for the remainder of the night. He makes his way to the fire escape, cigarettes in hand. He gets into a comfortable enough position with his too-big body that he’s still getting used to and surrenders himself to the memories of  _ before _ , all tinged with green.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I intend for these to be in chronological order? No. Will the rest of them be now that the first three are? Let's see if I can pull it off.
> 
> I liked writing about a color, especially with the universe putting so much emphasis on color to distinguish characters and themes. I might come back to this when I have nothing else to work on and add more colors to it.


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